The Second Round: Diverse Paths Towards Software Engineering

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Hyrynsalmi, Sonja, Peltonen, Ella, Vainionpää, Fanny, Hyrynsalmi, Sami
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Hyrynsalmi, Sonja
Peltonen, Ella
Vainionpää, Fanny
Hyrynsalmi, Sami
author_facet Hyrynsalmi, Sonja
Peltonen, Ella
Vainionpää, Fanny
Hyrynsalmi, Sami
contents In the extant literature, there has been discussion on the drivers and motivations of minorities to enter the software industry. For example, universities have invested in more diverse imagery for years to attract a more diverse pool of students. However, in our research, we consider whether we understand why students choose their current major and how they did in the beginning decided to apply to study software engineering. We were also interested in learning if there could be some signs that would help us in marketing to get more women into tech. We approached the topic via an online survey (N = 78) sent to the university students of software engineering in Finland. Our results show that, on average, women apply later to software engineering studies than men, with statistically significant differences between genders. Additionally, we found that marketing actions have different impacts based on gender: personal guidance in live events or platforms is most influential for women, whereas teachers and social media have a more significant impact on men. The results also indicate two main paths into the field: the traditional linear educational pathway and the adult career change pathway, each significantly varying by gender
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_17306
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Second Round: Diverse Paths Towards Software Engineering
Hyrynsalmi, Sonja
Peltonen, Ella
Vainionpää, Fanny
Hyrynsalmi, Sami
Software Engineering
In the extant literature, there has been discussion on the drivers and motivations of minorities to enter the software industry. For example, universities have invested in more diverse imagery for years to attract a more diverse pool of students. However, in our research, we consider whether we understand why students choose their current major and how they did in the beginning decided to apply to study software engineering. We were also interested in learning if there could be some signs that would help us in marketing to get more women into tech. We approached the topic via an online survey (N = 78) sent to the university students of software engineering in Finland. Our results show that, on average, women apply later to software engineering studies than men, with statistically significant differences between genders. Additionally, we found that marketing actions have different impacts based on gender: personal guidance in live events or platforms is most influential for women, whereas teachers and social media have a more significant impact on men. The results also indicate two main paths into the field: the traditional linear educational pathway and the adult career change pathway, each significantly varying by gender
title The Second Round: Diverse Paths Towards Software Engineering
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.17306